INSTRUCTIONS

ZOOM IN by clicking on the page. A slider will appear, allowing you to adjust your zoom level. Return to the original size by clicking on the page again.

MOVE the page around when zoomed in by dragging it.

ADJUST the zoom using the slider on the top right.

ZOOM OUT by clicking on the zoomed-in page.

SEARCH by entering text in the search field and click on "In This Issue" or "All Issues" to search the current issue or the archive of back issues
respectively.

PRINT by clicking on thumbnails to select pages, and then press the
print button.

SHARE this publication and page.

ROTATE PAGE allows you to turn pages 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise. Click on the page to return to the original orientation. To zoom in on a rotated page, return the page to its original orientation, zoom in, and
then rotate it again.

CONTENTS displays a table of sections with thumbnails and descriptions.

ALL PAGES displays thumbnails of every page in the issue. Click on
a page to jump.

BROWSE ISSUES allows you to browse through every available issue.

A FREE APP allows you to download issues to your mobile device for offline viewing. Get the Model Railroader Archive app in the iTunes and Google Play stores.

Product Reviews Big sound from HO scale Alco RSD-15 The growl and burble characteristic of an American Locomotive Co. diesel engine is captured in the new RSD-15 locomotive from Broadway Limited Imports’ BlueLine. The prototype. The RSD-15, first delivered in 1956, was an upgrade of Alco’s earlier RSD-7. The only difference between the models is the RSD-15’s 2,400-hp model 251 engine, which replaced the unreliable model 244 engine. Externally, the two locomotives are identical. Between 1956 and 1960, Alco built 87 RSD-15s. The biggest buyer of the RSD-15 was the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe RR, which bought 50 of the locomotives, all with a low short hood. Broadway Limited Imports offers its model painted in the livery of the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range; Pennsylvania RR; Southern Pacific; and two Santa Fe schemes. It also offers a Canadian National model that represents the lone RSD-17 built and sold by Alco’s subsidiary, Montreal Locomotive Works. Measuring up. Other than the fact that our sample has a low hood, a feature not introduced until the Santa Fe’s order in April 1959, the model matches the dimensions on a drawing of a high-hood RSD-15 in the 1956 edition of the SimmonsBoardman Locomotive Cyclopedia. The location of details also matches the drawing, right down to the uneven spacing of the axles on the Alco Tri-Mount trucks. The model is well detailed, from see-through steps and grills to the throttle lever molded onto the 84 Model Railroader • www.ModelRailroader.com A 11 " speaker is mounted vertically behind the locomotive’s rear grill. The circuit board at top center can be easily replaced with a DCC decoder. ⁄4 engineer’s station in the cab. The handrails measure a scale 11 ⁄2 " thick. The cab windows feature silver frames and separately applied windshield wipers. The silver printing on our black model was sharp and opaque. The model’s plastic shell fits snugly on the cast-metal frame, though it comes off easily enough once the couplers and draft-gear boxes are removed from both ends. Inside, a five-pole can motor with two brass flywheels drives the trucks via two plastic universal driveshafts. Two wheelsets on each truck are directly driven by worm gears on the driveshafts; another set of gears transfers motion from the center wheelset to the third. The locomotive is smooth and quiet. The printed-circuit (PC) board that controls the locomotive’s motor (and sounds) sits on top of the frame. A PC board is plugged into the eight-pin Digital Command Control (DCC) socket; upgrading the engine to DCC is as easy as replacing this board with one of the DCC decoders recommended by BLI. The DCC decoder interfaces with the on-board sound chip to operate additional sounds and functions. Road testing. The locomotive’s engine sounds become active at 6 volts, running through a simulated warm-up sequence. Increasing the power evokes a similar acceleration of the motor sounds before the locomotive actually starts to move. ▸▸ BLI BlueLine HO RSD-15 Price: $169.99 Manufacturer: Broadway Limited Imports 4 Signal Ave., Suite A Ormond Beach, FL 32174 www.broadway-limited.com Description: plastic and metal, sound-equipped, ready-to-run locomotive Paint schemes: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (low hood, blue-and-yellow or black-and-aluminum zebra stripe schemes, two road numbers each); Canadian National (high hood); Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range (high hood); Pennsylvania RR (high hood, two numbers); Southern Pacific (low hood, two numbers); undecorated (low or high hood).